


Stalwart Knight

by Dragonaddict04



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, legend of zelda breath of the wild
Genre: Angst, Cool Zelda, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Link is good boi, My attempt at a fight scene, My attempt at fanfic, Zelda deserves to be awesome too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:01:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22522168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonaddict04/pseuds/Dragonaddict04
Summary: Rito have been disappearing. Link and Zelda are asked to find who or what is causing it. But there are dangers lurking by that neither of them expected.ORLink and Zelda get in over their heads and chaos ensues.
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Zelink (relationship)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Stalwart Knight

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first Zelink fic! I hope you like it!  
> Rest of the notes at the end.

Zelda’s POV

Link and I traveled on horseback through the Tabantha Frontier region, we were following up on reports of disappearances from Rito Village. A friend of Links’ named Teba had asked us to investigate while staying there.

  
And of course, Link agreed. Though at first he protested me coming along, but I wouldn’t let him leave without me. No way am I staying there all alone you tactless knight.

  
I held onto Link as he spurred his stallion, Umber, into a sprint.  
“Where exactly are we headed, Link?” I asked.

  
Link responded by handing me the Sheikah Slate. I took it and flipped over to the map, where a shining red light hovered over a grassland not far from our position.

  
Suddenly Link pulled on the reins, “Whoa!” His soothed the horse as they came to a stop. Without hesitation, Link slipped off of the horses back and started strolling off without me. I hurriedly followed him, though my dismount was hardly as graceful as his thanks to my rush.

  
“Aren’t you forgetting someone!” I say quite loudly, trying to get his attention. Link looked back at me and put up a hand, he wants me to wait here? “I’m not some damsel you know! I can take care of myself, so I’m coming with you.” I stalked towards him, annoyed by is overprotectiveness.

  
Link just sighed. “Pri—Zelda, it will probably be very dangerous, please just wait here with Umber.” His words were soft as honey and his eyes spoke of genuine concern. But it takes more than a pretty face to halt my stubbornness.  
“My dear knight, I held back Calamity Ganon for a hundred years. I think I can handle whatever else Hyrule can throw at me.”

  
Links expression was priceless, somewhere in between shock and laughter. I had to try very hard to keep from laughing, let alone keep a serious face.

  
“As you wish, Zelda.” He bowed slightly. Little did I know it was to hide a smirk.  
The next few hours were spent snooping around the crater filled field and around spires of sand colored rock.

————

As night began to fall, Link and I prepared to call it a day, when a strange loud noise alerted us.  
Link leapt in front of me protectively, alert and in a fighting stance, one hand hovering over the hilt of his Master Sword.  
“Oh for Hylia’s sake.” I put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s ok, Link.” I said, “Remember, you don’t have to protect me like you used to. Now let’s go check out that noise, shall we?” Link turned and for a moment I thought he might ask me to stay behind, but after a moment of some internal debate, he simply nodded.  
They followed the noises around a spire only to come to a cliff wall.  
“Well that’s odd.” I mumbled, “perhaps we were hearing things?” But Link didn’t move. He surveyed the wall with almost laughable intensity. But to his credit, he did end up finding something.  
He pulled out the Sheikah Slate and flicked through its interface. Looking over his shoulder, I saw him click on one of the runes, called Stasis. He held the Sheikah Slate up to the wall.  
I watched as a part of the wall that stood out a bit started to glow a soft yellow color, and the Sheikah Slate let out a strange repetitive noise. Then, out of nowhere, Link unsheathed the Master Sword and started hitting the stone slab. What in Hylia’s name is he doing?! I simply blinked at him. Wondering why Link, the Hylian Champion, was hitting a rock with the sacred Master Sword.  
But I didn’t have to wait long to understand, the repetitive nose grew faster and faster until Link stepped back and then, with a loud rock grinding noise, the yellow glow seemingly shattered before my eyes and the stone slab was tossed out of the way with incredible force.

  
“I didn’t know the Sheikah Slate was capable of something like that…” I breathe. Link slid the Sheikah Slate back onto his belt. He reached a hand out to me, “time to go.”

  
We walked through a worm infested corridor, it reeked of death and other substances I would rather forget about.  
“Do you think it could be a group of Bokoblins? Perhaps Moblins?” I ask. Link nodded, “maybe, if so this should be pretty easy.” But there was something about his words that made me wary, he didn’t seem to think it was just Bokoblins.

  
The corridor opened up suddenly, into a large chamber, the wretched musty air clinging to my lungs. There were many pathways spreading out around the chamber. Lots of good hiding places. Unease knitted me stomach as we ventured closer to the chamber.  
My unease was quite justified. Horribly loud crashing noises came from a giant pathway to our left. The path was too dark to see anything yet, but something was coming.

  
“Link! I need the Sheikah Slate!” The urgency in my voice was clear, and Link tossed me the Sheikah Slate without hesitation. I caught it and hurriedly flicked through Links inventory. In a swirling blue light, I summoned a Royal Guards Bow and a quiver of explosive arrows. Then quickly clipped the Sheikah Slate back onto Links belt.

  
The steps were close now. Apprehension coiled in my chest. However, there is no place I’d rather fight than by my dear Link’s side, that thought gave me courage.

  
From out of the shadows of the pathway, I saw horrid charcoal skin wrapped around folds upon folds of fat barely covered by animal skins. Rotten blackened teeth shown below a bleary yellow-ish orange eye. The Hinox blundered into the chamber with steps that shook the ground. My fears realized, I still found my strength to fight. At least it can’t get worse.

The battle ensued.  
“Aim for the eye!” Link shouted, dodging under a crushing blow and slicing the Hinox’s flabby wrist. I did as he said. The Hinox swung at me but I leapt over its arm, for a brief moment landing on its meaty thumb before leaping again. This time I notched an explosive arrow in my bow, aiming right for the creature’s bulbous eye. Time seemed to slow as I fell, giving me the extra time to target my mark.

  
I let the arrow fly.

  
It hit the Hinox dead in the eye. It let out a furious roar of anger and pain, squeezing its eye shut for a moment. Link didn’t waist that moment, he leapt onto the Hinox’s back and plunged the Master Sword deep in its neck. The creature bellowed and thrashed, taking its hands away from its eye. I took that chance to bullseye it again with another explosive arrow. It staggered back. Link nimbly flipped up and over the Hinox’s head, spinning midair, and launching the Master Sword into its chest. Link landed a little awkwardly and staggered back before gaining his balance. The Hinox huffed, no longer bellowing at us, it fell onto its back with a crash! And didn’t move again.

  
Link took a moment to catch his breath, as did I. Then walked over to the Hinox corpse and retrieved the Master Sword.  
Link walked back over to me and I noticed he was limping slightly, “are you injured?!” I rush to him, panic washing over me.

  
“I’m alright Zel, I just twisted my ankle when I fell, don’t worry.” He soothed. He hasn’t called me Zel in a while. The nickname made me smile. “Alright then.”

“So I guess the Hinox was our colprit, do you think it’s the one that caused all the disappearances?”

Link looked at the ground sadly, “if that’s true,” he said, “then those Rito who went missing are probably…”  
He stopped. They both knew what he meant. I stayed silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. And what are we going to tell Teba? I sighed softly, grabbing hold of Links fingertips, “we should get going. They deserve to have some closer.” Link nodded. I hated seeing him like this, he is so compassionate and sympathetic, even though he usually doesn’t show it or covers it up. Though, I am glad he can be real when he’s around me.

  
We began to leave, when something huffed from behind us.  
Oh no.

  
At first I thought that maybe the Hinox was still alive somehow. But was still laying on the floor, unmoving. No, the noise came from somewhere else. Link stiffened and scanned the area.  
A loud snort came from one of the hallways.

  
It all happened so fast, I remember a silver blurr, a horrible pain in my stomach, and then suddenly being flung across the room.  
“Zelda!” Link’s desperate cry seemed so far away.

  
I slammed against a wall and slid to the floor. Ow… I thought absently, my thoughts fading, why am I on the floor…? My vision ebbed in and out of blackness, so I was only able to see snapshots of what was happening. I saw two huge creatures. A silvery gleam. A big orange flash. Link. Link standing over me. Link holding me. Feeling rain on my face. Seeing the night sky. Feeling a brisk wind.

  
And red, red everywhere.  
Then everything went completely black.

————

Warmth. I felt warm. I also realized I was moving. Slowly, my eyes fluttered open.  
The night sky shown with the first hints of dawn, sparse clouds scattered and faded. What… happened…? My mind was slow to catch up, but my flashes of memories came back to me. My head throbbed but I lifted it anyway. I was on a horse. I was on Umber. The stallion walked steadily in the pathway, so that’s why I’m moving. I blinked some more to try and clear my head a bit.  
It was then that I realized I was leaning against someone. I shifted my gaze and and found that my cheek had been resting on a blue tunic.

  
“Link…” I croaked softly. My skull throbbed. I grew more alert and shifted into a more comfortable sitting position. “Link what happened?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his waist.  
It was sticky.

  
I blinked, “Link?” He didn’t respond. I realized he was slumped over awkwardly on Umber’s back, his hands loose on the reins, like he wasn’t even holding them.  
“Link!” I pulled my hands back to me, sticky redness covered them. He’s hurt!  
“Umber stop! I need to get off for a moment!” The horse neighed as I reached around Link and yanked on the reins.

  
I slid off Umber’s back only to stagger and fall on my butt. Dizziness clouded my vision, but I shook my head, I can’t pass out again, not now. I slapped myself and stood up, my knees were shaky but holding.

  
That’s when I got my first good look at the extent of Links injuries.  
My panic turned to horror.

  
His hair was matted with thick blood that had hardened and crusted his face. There was a half broken arrow sticking out of his shoulder from what looked like a failed attempt to pull it out, the blood from the wound darkening his sky blue tunic. I couldn’t quite make out the rest of his injuries, but there was so much blood. There were several makeshift bandages wrapped around his thigh and midsection, torn from his cloak. At least he tried to bandage himself.

  
I need to move quickly.

  
I shifted Link to the rear of Umber’s saddle and hopped up in front of him, grabbing the reins. “Yah!” I whipped the reins hard and Umber surged forward. I made sure to hold Links arm around my waist with one of my hands to keep him from falling off.

  
I knew how to get back to Rito Village. So it was only a matter of time.

  
“Don’t you dare die on me, Link!” I told him, though he clearly wouldn’t respond. “You said you’d always be with me!”

  
I snapped the reins again.

  
“I couldn’t bare another hundred years without you, so don’t you dare do that to me!”

  
I could feel his heartbeat against my back, soft and slow.  
“I would never forgive you! You hear me?!”

  
Tears blurred my sight as they streamed down my face, all I could think of was that fateful day. The Guardians attack, my home being destroyed before my very eyes. And Link. Sacrificing his life for me. I’m not letting that happen again. Shame burned my heart, but I did let it happen again. Now Link is injured. Because of me. Again. An aggravated sob escaped my lips.

  
“Please Link.” I sobbed. “Don’t leave me alone again.”  
“I lov—” My breath hitched in my throat.  
I’ll save you. I promise, Link.  
Umber huffed heavily and I could tell he didn’t have much strength left.  
“We’re almost there Umber!” I pointed to the village, it was so close now. “Just a little more!”  
We came to the first set of bridges for Rito Village and I pulled on the reins, “Whoa!” Umber came to an immediate stop and huffed in exhaustion. “Thank you Umber.” I putted the horses dark brown mane as I slipped off the saddle. A fresh dizzy spell hit me but I ignored my throbbing head and turned to Link.  
I pulled him down off the saddle and had to catch him before he fell over. Link wasn’t super heavy, but he wasn’t light either.

  
I half carried, half dragged him over the bridges. At the second one, one of Rito guards spotted us and rushed over, calling to other guards for help.

  
“Princess Zelda! Master Link! Are you alright?” I wanted to laugh in the guards face, we are clearly not alright.

  
“Please, Link is hurt bad. He needs immediate medical attention… please..” the dizziness hit again. Hard. I fell forward with Link in my arms. The Rito guard caught us as three others arrived, one of them I recognized. It was Teba. His eyes were wide as he and two other guards rushed over.

  
“Quickly, find a healer!” Teba ordered one of the guards. His voice was distorted. I blinked, but the fuzziness at the edge of my vision wouldn’t go away. I suddenly felt very exhausted, like all my energy was drained out all at once.  
I felt weightless, and realized one of the guards had picked me up and was now carrying me.

  
Oh, I thought, I guess it’s ok to sleep now…  
then I passed out again.

  
I woke slowly. Groggily remembering the events of the night. Link… I sat up. I was on a mat in a Rito home. “Hello?” I called horsley. No one came. I stood shakily, my head throbbing still, though not as bad as before.

  
I walked to the entrance of the home, the open walls and doorway made it easy to see that I was alone. Where is everyone? I started walking up a flight of stairs when I heard a ruckus above me, loud crashes, muffled voices, a sharp crack. What in Hylia’s name is— heavy clacking footsteps thundered down the stairs, heading towards me.

  
A Rito woman came rushing down the stairs, worry lining her beautiful feathered face. They met eyes. “P-princess Zelda! You’re awake!” Relief swept over her features. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, but I need you to follow me, right now.” My heart sped up.

“Is it Link?” The question could barely escape me lips, my throat was so tight.  
The Rito woman nodded. “He woke up a few moments ago, come with me.”  
I hopped up the couple steps to stand beside the Rito woman, and she led me up the stairs. “He’s been quite frantic since he woke,” she started to explain, “he wants to see that you’re ok, but he really shouldn’t be moving yet, so the healer told me to come fetch you.”  
He wants to know if I’m ok? He’s the one that’s hurt!  
As we started up the second flight of stairs, I could hear voices.

“—is she?!” The voice, though very horse, was clearly Link’s

“I promise she’s fine, Master Link, but please, you need rest. Lay back down.” An unfamiliar soft voice tried to soothe him.

There was the sound of a scuffle, “I need to see her! I need to—“ his voice cut out suddenly.

I ran up the steps, bounding ahead of the Rito woman. I came to another open layout home. Inside were two male Rito. And slumped down on a bed, was Link.  
His tunic had been taken off and his chest and stomach were covered in bandages, his boots lay on the floor next to the bed along with the Master Sword and the Sheikah Slate.

  
“Link!” My voice cut through the momentary silence and Link jerked his head up. Our eyes met, his went wide and he stood on shaky legs.  
Before he could do anything, I rushed to his side, embracing him in a hug.  
“I’m alright, Link. I’m fine.” I whispered in his ear.

  
I looked over at the two Rito men standing in the corner of the room, ‘I’ll handle this’ I mouthed to them. They nodded and silently left the room, taking the woman with them.  
All the while Link stood still, letting me hug him.

  
“You hit the wall…” he said softly after a while, “so hard… I thought…” he buried his face in my shoulder.  
“I’m fine though.” I reassured him. I started rubbing his back slowly. “I’m just fine, Link.”  
He steadily wrapped his arms around my waist, and I noticed that his hands were shaking a little. “Link.”  
He hummed softly.

“Thank you.”

He pulled away enough for me to see his face. He cocked his head.

“Thank you for being with me.”

My Knight smiled faintly.

“Always.” His voice was steadily and true.  
I smiled too.

“But you simply must stop worrying so much!” I prod, “you’ll get wrinkles.”

He blinks at me and smiles wryly. “I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with my wrinkles.”

“You know what I mean!” I scrunch my nose at him, “I get rather annoyed when you fret over me all day and night!”

“Well excuse me, Princess.” He says, “it is my job you know.”

“You don’t need to trouble yourself so much! All I need is for you to stay with me!”  
The words slipped out so suddenly that I couldn’t catch myself. I could feel my cheeks go red with embarrassment. I’m such a fool.

Link simply stares at me, at a loss for words.  
When the silence gets uncomfortable, I decided to speak up.

“Anyway, you should get some rest.” I told him, painfully aware of the many injuries lacerating his body. It made my bandaged head look like a paper cut comparatively.

“I’m fine.” He said gruffly, pulling back close to me and burying his head in my shoulder indignantly.

“Please Link. You should really rest, at least a little.” I coo. He gives me a small sigh,  
“If you stay.”  
“Of course.”  
We pull apart and I help him lay back down, he turned his head to hide a wince as he put pressure on his back, but I saw. I quickly put a hand on his neck and shoulder to support him.

  
Once he laid down I pulled the covers up to his chest. Once he was comfortable, I found a chair and pulled it over to sit by him.

  
A few minutes passed and Link was starting to fall asleep. I watched as he closed his eyes, watched his breathing grew steady and calm. He looked so relaxed. I’m glad you are okay, Link. On a whim, I leaned forward, softly brushing his golden hair from his face.

  
“Sleep well, dearest Link.” I whisper.  
I leaned down and kissed him tenderly on the forehead.

  
“I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okee so my inspiration for this fic is drawn from bunches of stuff. But a lot of music mainly.  
> Here’s what I listened to while writing.  
> If I lose myself by One Republic  
> Soldier by Fleurie  
> Ain't no sunshine by Bill Withers  
> Vanilla twilight by Owl City


End file.
